Straightening a bent mast

Caljr64

New Member
The boat given to me has a bent mast. Any recommendations for the method to use to straighten it?
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Wow that free boat is quite a score, should clean up nicely! If the bend was slight, I'd say just sail as-is. But it does look significant. Maybe try posting a wanted ad here? Problem with a mast is always the length, not something you can just throw in the mail and ship to another city.

I got lucky last time I needed a mast for a dingy - went to one of the only used sailboat dealers in my area. They had a big pile of orphan masts on sawhorses out back. I found one that was the exact same shape width-wise (made by Dwyer Mast Co.). But it was badly bent at the bottom. Once I cut the bent part off with a hack saw, it was still long enough to replace the OEM mast. Of course I had to carefully measure and rivet all the hardware onto the replacement. Has worked ever since, though!

Again, getting something so long home was a chore, and I was in a 4-door sedan! I tied it to the roof, put a red rag on the back, and held it through the sunroof with one hand all the way home :p.
 
The boat is a great find. Congratulations!
As long as the mast isn't kinked or buckled anywhere, you can probably lay it across a couple of saw-horses and bend it back to working order. Be careful to distribute the force over the entire bend. If it looks like you've created a weak spot you can go into replacing it, but it won't cost you anything to try to straighten it.
 
I made a straight back out of two 2X8X8s, then used a scissors jack with a contoured block out of pine between the jacking point and the mast.
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Most of the bend is out, so I'm please with the result. Now, I need to address the shredded jib. I obtained a jib from a Hobie 16. My plan is to cut it down and reset it into a working jib for the 14.2. As long as the leech and luff are short enough shouldn't that work?
 

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